Coming Home
by Lyny Angell
Summary: LJ. A bit of war-time fluff. Post-Hogwarts. Pre-Harry. Very short. One-shot. Enjoy. R&R.


A/N: Okay, so the chapter I am currently working on for "Thrice" is extremely sad, and it's making me a little depressed. So, I've decided to be a bad author and write another short and sweet ficlet to help with a bit of writer's block. Enjoy the fluff!

Coming Home

James Potter rolled over in bed to look at the alarm on the bedside table. He groaned upon seeing that it wasn't even midnight. He'd been asleep for less than two hours, and he wasn't even tired anymore. He rolled over again to see if his wife was asleep or not, but was then momentarily surprised to see that she was not in bed beside him. It took a few seconds for him to remember that Lily was away on assignment for the Order of the Phoenix. He sighed. No wonder he was having trouble sleeping.

James grabbed his wife's pillow and rolled onto his stomach, holding the pillow over his head. It smelled like her, which, instead of making it easier for him to fall asleep, only aggravated him, making him hyper aware of her missing presence beside him. He tossed the pillow to the floor and sat up in bed, scrubbing a hand over his face.

Now he knew how Lily always felt when he was away on assignment for the Auror department. He vowed then and there to ask Moody not to assign him so many away missions.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt ashamed of himself for being so dependant on his wife. Sure, he loved her, but now he couldn't even sleep without her by his side? It was ridiculous and annoying and if Sirius ever found out, James would never, ever hear the end of it.

He pulled back the covers and climbed out of bed, yawning as he walked to the loo. His hand was outstretched toward the door when a crash from downstairs made him freeze. He whirled around, hurrying to grab his wand from the bedside table and crept as silently as he could down the stairs. It struck him that there was very little likelihood that a Death Eater would make so much noise, but then again, some of them were pretty stupid. As he moved closer to the sound of the disturbance, he could hear a feminine voice cursing.

"Damnit, stupid table, ouch. Oh, eff it all. Ow, ow, ouch!"

He lit his wand and raised it.

"Lily?" he asked, uncertainly. His wife was standing in the dark, hopping around and clutching her foot. The coffee table was nearly a foot from where it was supposed to be, and the flowers he had brought her had been overturned in their vase, spilling petals, water and shards of glass all over the floor. Lily had been trying to clean up the mess, while nursing her injured foot, and she had a few cuts on her hand.

She looked up at him and grinned sheepishly.

"Hullo." James kept his wand raised, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"What magical accident occurred on our very first date in Hogwarts?" he asked, their security question falling from his lips without any further hesitation. He was almost entirely certain that she wasn't a Death Eater, because if she was, he would have been dead by now, but he felt that he ought to do the thing properly, just in case.

Lily frowned.

"Sirius turned my hair purple," she said. "And it wasn't an accident! It was a stupid prank, which you, by the way, thought was extremely funny."

He barely contained a grin at that. Lily started to walk towards him, but he kept his wand raised.

"No, not yet," he said. He was waiting for her to ask his security question. Lily rolled her eyes at him. "Come on, set a good example," James replied.

"An example for who exactly? There's no one here but us. And my foot really hurts, by the way."

"That foot should be the least of your worries," said James. "If I were a Death Eater, you'd be dead by now."

"Exactly," Lily said. "So, let's forget this entire stupid business, then, shall we?" The sour look on her husband's face changed her mind. "Fine," she said, thinking for a moment before grinning wickedly at him. "What was the name of your favorite stuffed animal as a child?"

James turned bright red.

"Mr. Broomy-Broom," he muttered. "And that is _not_ the question we agreed on." He waved his wand at the overhead light, and it came on, bathing the room in light.

Lily giggled and tried to take a step forward, but grimaced and stopped when her weight fell upon her injured foot. "Ouch."

James frowned, crossing the distance between them and helping her to the couch and sitting next to her.

"What have you done to yourself?" he asked, patting his lap to indicate that she should place her foot there for him to examine.

"I tripped over the bloody table," Lily mumbled.

"Why didn't you turn on the light?" James asked.

"I was trying not to wake you." He decided against telling her that he hadn't been able to sleep without her anyway. They'd only been married a few months. There was no need for that sort of ridiculous romanticism just yet. Instead, he smiled and shook his head, performing a quick healing charm on her foot.

"Thanks," she said. He nodded and started to massage it gently.

"What are you doing home, anyway?" he asked. "You're supposed to be in Peru." She leaned back against the pillows of the sofa, moving her other foot into his lap as well so that he could massage it, too.

"Mission was cancelled," she said. "Mm, that feels nice." She closed her eyes and sighed, enjoying being pampered.

"How come it was cancelled?" James asked, slightly concerned.

"The mission? Well, a couple of things really. It was just a tip off, nothing of real importance. Then, Mundungus didn't show up, no shocks there." James grunted his agreement. "Finally, Diggle just kept saying that he had a bad feeling about the whole thing, so we decided to call it off and come home. Of course, this was after we waited at Headquarters for four hours, hoping that Dung would show up." James chuckled, lifting her feet from his lap and taking out his wand.

"Reparo," he muttered, and the vase sprung back into it's original form. He siphoned the spilled water into his wand and then dumped it back into the vase. Finally, he levitated the flowers and dropped them back into the vase. The petals that had fallen off were banished to the dustbin in the kitchen.

"Let me see you hand," James said, holding his hand out for hers.

"It's fine," Lily said, complying anyway. James shrugged but healed the tiny cuts. James lay back on the sofa, his face close to hers. Lily smiled, and he placed a hand on her face, leaning closer to give her a soft, warm kiss.

"Well, glad you're home safe," he said softly as they pulled apart.

Lily laughed wryly.

"Pretty pathetic," she said. "My first actual assignment, and the only injuries I sustained came from my own clumsiness in my own living room."

James chuckled and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

"I'd rather you be pathetic than actually injured," he said, and she smiled, feeling a sudden rush of affection for her husband.

"I love you," she said softly.

"Love you, too." James stifled a yawn.

"You want to go up to bed?" Lily asked.

"I'm comfortable here if you are," he replied. Lily nodded and snuggled further into his embrace. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and was asleep in an instant.

A/N: Just a bit of fluff. Hope you enjoyed. Please review. I don't care if you only say "Cute Story. I like it!" or "Crappy story. I hate it." (I prefer the first option, but whatevs.) Just let me know that you've been here and you've read it.

Love from

Lyny Angell


End file.
